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In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

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Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#71

Post by chrisseaton »

ig1 wrote: post #61
rogy wrote: post #16

Interestingly similar discussion going around in the UK at the moment after a UK MP came out saying that '£70,000' salary makes you 'rich'. 70k as a single income won't get you a flat in London in any reasonable time and you'll most certainly be renting forever on that kind if money in London. Even if its triple the average UK wage. Location means everything.

Only if you want to live in central London. You can still easily get a house on that income in London suburbs. For example you can get a 3-bed in Orpington (20 minutes by train to London Bridge) for around £400k which should be comfortably affordable to someone on 70k.

> around £400k which should be comfortably affordable to someone on 70k

The mortgage on that will be using up around half of your income. That's insane.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#72

Post by chadlavi »

cbhl wrote: post #17
make3 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what are your options then? legit curious

Live on the other side of a subway or commuter train line. New Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens, that sort of thing.

> Brooklyn

Hahahahahahahaha, good one. Maybe you're in some alternate dimension Brooklyn, but the one I live in is full on crazygonuts expensive.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#74

Post by nilved »

anon374939 wrote: post #19

After two years in San Francisco, I had to move back to my small(er) home town city because I ultimately realized there's little to no future for me in a city like San Francisco, despite making 250k/yr. I'd have to make at minimum $1M per year for a similar lifestyle (and even then, the stress of living in the bay area will reduce years from your lifespan... what's each year of your life worth to you?).

This post is hilarious. You're the embodiment of HN.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#75

Post by cylinder »

s3r3nity wrote: post #63
ransom1538 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did the exact same thing this year. Moved to Oviedo, FL from SF: 1) no state income tax, 2) public schools in my neighborhood are equivalent to a private school in sf [i] 4) weather is great 8 months out of year, 5) beaches you can swim in, 6) rent is ~1/4 of what it was in SF, 7) cuban food, 8) as a resident, kids have year round disney passes [i] http://school-ratings.com/Florida/schools/Carillon_Elementar... WARNI…

Sidebar / off topic: highly recommend the cuban espresso in Florida if you're into coffee...blew me away when I had it for the first time, and is one of the top reasons I look forward to travelling there.

To me it's just a poorly pulled espresso with a ton of sugar...

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#76

Post by _ao789 »

rocgf wrote: post #45
Sharlin wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

800 square meters????

My reaction exactly. Americans use way too much, to be honest. 8k sq ft is more than enough for like 7+ families.

After living in 'cramped old london' for over a decade (still), I can only dream of the luxury of 800 Sq.m. Where do I sign up? :) fitting multiple people/families into anything less is just bad living standards as far as I'm concerned. You work hard all day long to go back to such a depressing existence. Time to start living fellow HN'ers!

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#77

Post by Spooky23 »

BadassFractal wrote: post #22

Let's set aside cost of living in the Bay for a second. Here's a completely taboo subject. At what point do we hold people accountable for their reproductive choices? You want to have 2, 4, 6 children in the most expensive slice of land in the US? Great, but please bear in mind that choice comes with real financial consequences to your lifestyle and you should not expect the state to bail you out of it.

A professional worker should be able to support a reasonable sized family without living in a slum or being a millionaire.

I'm not sure what "holding people accountable" means to you. What it means to the Valley is that these companies have basically colonized the region and created an environment where you need to be single or dink. They like that because it means it's easier to make you work more without a family.

In my case, it means my services aren't available to those companies at any price. No big deal individually, but there are many people like me.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#78

Post by kidskidskids »

BadassFractal wrote: post #22

Let's set aside cost of living in the Bay for a second. Here's a completely taboo subject. At what point do we hold people accountable for their reproductive choices? You want to have 2, 4, 6 children in the most expensive slice of land in the US? Great, but please bear in mind that choice comes with real financial consequences to your lifestyle and you should not expect the state to bail you out of it.

BUT IT IS MY RIGHT TO MAKE CHILDREN EVEN THOUGH I CANNOT AFFORD THEM.

SV parents are the worst.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#79

Post by juliangoldsmith »

ryanSrich wrote: post #39
gshulegaard wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, as an engineer finding myself thinking along similar lines, where did you end up moving?

Just remember that you'll want to select a city that has a decent economy and tech scene in the event that you lose your job and need to take a location dictated position. So long as you and your partner are both making 6 figures you should be able to afford any of the following cities: - Seattle - Portland - Austin - Denver

>So long as you and your partner are both making 6 figures

That's a pretty high bar for cost of living. Here in Charlotte, NC, I make half of that, and could support two people without any difficulty.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#80

Post by dmode »

throwthisawayt wrote: post #32
archeantus wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We moved to Utah where the tech scene is actually quite strong, and the cost of living is significantly less. We bought an 8k sq ft house for the price of many 1,500 sq ft town homes we had been putting offers in on in California. It can be such a rat race down there, it is refreshing to remember that it doesn't have to be that way. Life exists outside of The Valley, and it happens to be a pretty darn good one (and a…

Are you a minority race and if so would you say that Utah is friendly to non-whites ?

Just FYI, all the Indian folks I knew moved out of Utah. Not sure if it is because of race or nom Christian religion
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